The foreign minister said Hungary's energy security must be guaranteed, adding that Hungary plans to acquire an extra 700 million cubic metres of natural gas above the contracted volume.
Minister Szijjártó said his current visit to Moscow had a dual purpose: to fully guarantee Hungary’s energy security and to express that Hungary wants peace in Ukraine as soon as possible. He told a joint press conference with counterpart Sergei Lavrov that the government had an obligation to secure energy supplies to Hungary even in the ongoing European energy crisis. This is why Hungary wants to acquire an extra 700 million cubic metres of natural gas above the contracted volume and “whether we like it or not, this isn’t possible without Russian sources”, he said. [T]he fact of the matter is that physical realities cannot be changed, and it is currently simply impossible to buy this much extra natural gas in Europe without Russian sources,” he said.
Gas storage facilities in Hungary are being filled up according to schedule and they currently stand at 27.3 percent of annual consumption, as against the European average of 17.3 percent, he said. “In normal times, this would be enough and it would provide security, but as we all know, we don’t live in normal times…” he added.
Photo credit: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter